Railway-staff.



W. H. MOGEEVBR.

RAILWAY STAFF.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 9, 1909.

982,082. Patented Jan 17, 1911.

FIGJ.

. 9% AW V flmaw MW M1 M /fzxwbk M THE mums FETEIPS Io., wnsumuwu. n. :4

UNI i WILLIAM HENRY MGGEEVER, OF GREENMOUNT, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA.

RAILWAY-STAFF.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HENRY Mo- GEEVER, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain, residing at Greenmount, in the State of Queensland,Australia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailway-staves; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to the system of working trains and tramsparticularly on single lines of railways by what is called the staffworking, and the object is to provide a staff and subsidiary staves andmethod of using same by which most if not all the disadvantages of thepresent systems are removed.

The following are some of the advantages obtained by the use of mydevice, viz :Delays are reduced to a minimum; it is possible to have anynumber of trains (going in the same direction) on the one sectionwithout danger, each driver knowing the position of the trains ahead ofhim on that section; it is impossible to pass a train on after thesection has been blocked and it is impossible for the driver or stationmaster (or signalman) to tamper with the system without detection. Theseand other advantages will clearly show themselves when the invention isfully considered.

In carrying my invention into efiect I provide a principal staff (whichI will hereinafter refer to as the staff and a number of up and downtrain subsidiary staves (which I will hereinafter refer to singly orcollectively as the case may be as the stave or staves) there being asmany up and down train staves as the trains which are permitted to runin one direction before the passage of a train or trains in the otherdirection.

The staff is made of any suitable shape, and of suitable materials orcombination of materials. It is provided with means whereby the stavesmay be detachably secured thereto, said means being such that theycannot be manipulated by the engine driver.

The staff has painted or otherwise marked on both sides thereofinstructions as to the direction in which it is to be used. Any

' other message or instruction may be indi- Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed July 9, 1909.

.ary staves respectively.

Patented Jan. 17, 1911.

Serial No. 506,785.

may be made for the attachment of a number of padlocks for use insecuring the staves to the staff, and the messages to either as the casemay be.

The staves are made of similar shape and material as the staff. Asbefore mentioned there is one set of staves for use with down trains andone set for the up trains, they are therefore marked accordingly.Furthermore they are also each provided with an instruction tablet, ringor other device (having means for securing them in the desired position)as in the case of the staff. If desired the staves may be marked withthe number allowed to be used on the section and with consecutivenumbers indicating the order in which they are to be delivered.

In order that my invention may be clearly understood I will now describeit more fully, with the aid of the accompanying drawings whichillustrates two forms of staffs and staves.

show one form of instruction tablet for attachment to the principalstaff and subsidi- Fig. 8 illustrates another form of staff or stave,and Fig. 9 is a part section thereof (to a larger scale).

In carrying out my invention, in its simplest and perhaps best form Imake the principal staff A of suitable shape such as in the form of aring, or oval, or approximating thereto. It may be made of any material,or combination of materials, that will suit the purpose, viz :that whichwhile light will not be knocked about by rough usage. For this purpose Imay employ rubber, leather, thin sheet tin, brass or copper, wire orsuch like. This staff A has painted, impressed, embossed or otherwisemarked or indicated upon it-on the obverse side the words Down train andthe respective stations between which it is used, or words to similareffect, while on the reverse side the words Up train and the respectivestations, in the reverse order to that on the obverse side, or words tosimilar effect. Provision is made on this principal staff by which asmall and convenient shaped tablet as B may be secured thereto on eitherside (such as by a lock B or padlock,) so that it can only be removed bythe station master or Signalman at either end of the section but not bythe engine driver. A number of these tablets are provided (one onlybeing aflixed to the staff at a time) and they bear an instruction tothe driver as to the state of the line ahead or other information, suchas Train in section 5 minutes ahead beware. Train in section shuntingsiding, beware and so on. The part A is complete in itself and thetablet may be secured thereto in any convenient way. One method ofsecuring the tablet to the ring is shown in Fig. 1, in which the ringhas a sector shaped cut-away portion provided with a hole on one side.The tablet B has a projection to fit into said indentation and may thenbe locked in by the lock B. The principal stafi' A has also means suchas the straps and buckles C D by which the down and up subsidiary stavesE are secured thereto. Locks or padlocks F (the keys of which are keptby the station master or signalman at either end of the section) shouldbe provided in order to prevent'the improper removal of the staves. Thestraps should in dicate whether they are for securing down or up staves,the number of staves E that are to be afiixed and how they are numbered.When straps and buckles are not used, this information should beembodied on the respective sides of the staff.

The subsidiary staves E may be made Tsimilar in form and of similarmaterial to the principal staif A, with the exception that they need notbe provided with straps and buckles C D. They have indicated thereonsimilar information to that contained on the principal stafi A with theaddition of a number to indicate the total number of staves to be issuedand another number to indicate the order of issue. Like the principalstafi A they are provided with means for securing instruction tablets BThe staves bear an instruction reading Section clear to distant signalor words to that effect, so placed that it can be covered over when thetablet B is locked on. The tablets B 13 which could be interchangeable,would be colored red so as to attract the attention of the driver morereadily. Receptacles (fitted with lock and key) may be provided at theend of each section, and in which the 'stafi, staves, etc., may beplaced.

buckles C D and looks or padlocks alone. A

single set may however be sometimes used bearing the Down and uplnstructions on either side thereof.

The regulations applying to the use of my invention which can be usedwith the permissive as well as the absolute block system would be, asfar as possible similar to those in operation with the present staffsystem.

Assuming that it is desired to work a section, say, between Roma andDalby with my'stafl' A and staves E, the staff with all the staves (say6) locked thereon would be at the former station in charge of thestation master or signalman. Now, supposing 'it is desired to pass onone train only, on the down line, that is to Dalby and then allow one toreturn up, the staff A with all the siX down and up subsidiary staves Eon their respective sides would be handed to the engine driver, and hewould take a note of the instruction on down stave No. 1 which, asdescribed above, would be to the efl'ect that the sect-ion is clear tothe distant signal at Dalby. On reaching Dalby he would hand over thestaff A and staves E just as he got them from Roma. It will beunderstood that on the whole stalf and staves being handed to the driverat Roma the section would be blocked to all trains running down and whenhanded to the officer in charge at Dalby the up line would be opened.Supposing it is now desired to pass trains up from Dalby to Roma on thepermissive system, that is to pass a number of trains (say l) in the onedirection before the section is blocked and then opened for traveling inthe opposite direction, up stave No. 1 would be unlocked from the staffA and handed to the engine driver who on taking note of the instructionthat the line is clear to the distant signal at Roma procoeds on hisjourney. Up stave No. 2 with an instruction such as train in section 5minutes ahead, beware thereon would be handed to the engine driver ofthe second train and so on until four staves are passed out. Finally tothe fifth driver, would be handed the staff A together with theremaining two staves E and the six down staves locked thereon, thedriver taking his instruction from up stave No. 5) thus blocking thesection to trains in the same direction. As each train reaches Roma thedriver would hand over his stave or staff and staves as the case may beto the oflicer in charge who would replace the four staves previouslyhanded to him.

Of course it is quite clear that my staff and staves can be used whenthe trains are running at a fair rate of speed past a station.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the working can be more'or lesselaborated according to circumstances and that my staff andstaves may beworked in .conjunction with either or both the electric and automaticsystems, and with the aid of the telephone and telegraph.

In Figs. 8 and 9 one of several alternative methods of constructing mystaff A or stave E is shown. In this case they are made hollow and ofsuitable material and are provided With a sight F. Instead of havingseparate instruction tablets B as in Figs. 1 to 7, I indicate theinstructions on a ring G sliding in the staff or stave which can belocked in any position so that only one instruction is shown through thesight F. The method of working this staff or stave being practically thesame as that described no further description is necessary.

It will be understood that the details of carrying my invention intoeffect can be varied without interfering with the essential featuresthereof.

I claim l. The combination of a main stafi provided on either side withinstructions corresponding to the direction of movement of the train,annular subsidiary staves bearing on one side instructions to the enginedriver, tablets bearing instructions as to the state of the line ahead,and means for securing said subsidiary staves and tablets to the mainstaff, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a main staff annular inform and provided on eitherside with instructions corresponding to the direc tion of the movementof the train; annular subsidiary staves bearing on one side instructionsto the engine driver; sector shaped tablets bearing instructions as tothe state of the line ahead; and means for securing said subsidiarystaves and tablets to the main staff, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature, in presence of twoWitnesses.

\VILLIAM HENRY MOGEEVER.

Witnesses LEOPOLD FREDERICK BERNAYs, ARTHUR EVELYN SYMEs.

